Communication networks are becoming widely used for distributing both high and low speed data over varying distances. Typically, a communication network is comprised of a number of network elements (for example Nodes, switches, routers etc) that are connected to each other in a variety of configurations so as to form a unified communication network. The communication network may extend over a small area, such as a company wide network, or may cover large distances, such as in regional or nationwide networks. The nodes allow network clients to input data for transmission over the network and to receive data transmitted over the network from other locations. Thus, data may be added to, or dropped from the network at node locations, as the data flows from point to point throughout the network.
One problem associated with communication networks is the problem of protection switching. In one situation, protection switching involves the process of switching network traffic from one network transmission path to another in the event of a network failure.
In another protection switching technique, typically used in ring networks, the network traffic is transmitted over working and protection transmission paths that flow in different directions over the network to the same destination. In the event of a network failure, either the working or protection transmission path will be selected to deliver the network traffic to the network element at the final destination. To ensure uninterrupted (continuous) traffic flow a protection group (PG) is provisioned at each node where at least one working and at least one protection elements are presented at every node. FIG. 1 shows an example illustration of the protection group (PG) as defined in Provide Bridge Backbone Network with Traffic Engineering (PBB-TE, i.e. IEEE 802.1Qay) which has one work and one protect. Also, IEEE 802.1Qay defines two PGs are must i.e. one on source end and other on the destination end. Also, the work (protect) entity is bi-directional and path should be congruent between the two PGs.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a system to perform protection switching in a communication network using distributed or extended protection group to overcome the above restrictions.